What is the Franklin ACE Project?

Through meaningful collaboration between the Franklin Community Schools, Corporate and Industry leaders, Community Organizations, Community Stakeholders and Local, State and National Government we will create The Franklin Agriculture Center for Education (ACE).

ACE is nine acres of land immediately adjacent to the high school agriculture department. These nine acres are being developed into a facility that includes gardens, orchards, pastures, row crops, composting, turf, floriculture and a hoop/greenhouse along with a building for vegetable and meat processing and a classroom/lab for plant and animal science learning. This building will be adjacent to a barn for housing livestock, feed and equipment.

ACE currently facilitates students producing vegetables from a two acre garden, pastured meat chickens, and row crops the remaining seven acres. An Agriculture and Garden camp is held during the summer months for pre-highschool students.

Relative to the facilities over the next four years, in the following order, we endeavor to:

• Expand the production of vegetables from the two acre garden.
• Establish an orchard.
• Expand production of pastured meat chicken.
• Establish a one acre field crop experimentation and demonstration plot
• Establish a 4 acre pasture with fencing.
• Build the buildings
  • A barn for housing livestock, feed and equipment
  • Within the barn includes an animal handling facility and food processing facility
  • Access and utilities to the buildings

Relative to learning strategies over the next two years, in the following order, we endeavor to:

• Expand the Summer Agriculture Camps to accommodate more students from all of Johnson County.
• Identify opportunities for Supervised Agriculture Experienceś (SAE), Senior Class Projects and Student work Opportunities.
• Create more collaborations for student learning. Share the value and ownership.
• Document and standardize the curriculum, logistics and partnerships for how ACE experience will be used to enhance classroom learning. For other school departments as well as the agriculture classes.